So in '99, I had the frogs spoiled for me by a creative writing teacher who was raving about the movie after having just seen it. I was intrigued, but didn't get a chance to see it before it left theaters, so as soon as it came out on video I rented it. VHS. Two VHSes, to be specific. I was enthralled by the movie overall, but by one part in particular, when Officer Kurring is in Claudia's kitchen and they're standing at opposite ends of the frame, and the VHS abandons pan-and-scan completely and actually stretches out to show the entire letterboxed image.

Something about that moment, realizing the pan-and-scan technician probably fiddled with it for hours before going "Fuck it. This artist's vision is just too damn grand to squeeze into a little square box," it was the closest thing to a revelation an atheist kid like me can have. As amazing as this movie was to me, there was a whole giant swath of it that I was missing. I hated myself for not having seen it in theater when I had a chance. I think it was within the next week that I found the old C&C site, where I devoured all the information I could, and when the message board started up, I jumped on that shit. Other people who realize this is the greatest thing ever? Yes, please.

Months later, I got a new computer in preparation for going off to college, a computer specifically chosen for its DVD drive. So I immediately bought my three favorite movies of that past year, Magnolia, Fight Club, and Three Kings, and watched them over an afternoon, in glorious widescreen. The next day I bought Boogie Nights and watched that for the first time. A little while later I tracked down Hard Eight. Since then, I've been riding the dizzying highs and lows of anticipating the next film, and the next. When PDL was still the X4 Project, and CMBB was still Oil! When we panicked over Sandler and got snookered by Froio. But more than anything, it's given me certainty. When asked what my favorite movie is, there is no hemming and hawing, no equivocating, there is only a quick and decisive response: "Magnolia. Duh."

I was intrigued, but didn't get a chance to see it before it left theaters, so as soon as it came out on video I rented it. VHS. Two VHSes, to be specific. I was enthralled by the movie overall, but by one part in particular, when Officer Kurring is in Claudia's kitchen and they're standing at opposite ends of the frame, and the VHS abandons pan-and-scan completely and actually stretches out to show the entire letterboxed image.

Just saw this now, so I have to add to this...

I might have told this story before, but it's worth repeating. I took a college class called Interpersonal Communication, and I did a presentation about body language. The scene you speak of was the centerpiece of my presentation. I think my point was that the distance they were standing from each other was communicating their trepidation or something, but to be honest, it was mostly an excuse to evangelize Magnolia. When that pan-and-scan image stretched into letterbox, I could practically feel the excitement in the room. It was glorious.

Side note: The stretch was probably done out of necessity. Jim and Claudia are at the extreme left and right edges of the frame, so a pan-and-scan version would literally have to pan and scan back and forth furiously or just show us their noses.

Less successful, months before, were my efforts to evangelize Magnolia while working at Blockbuster. Anytime anyone would ask for a movie recommendation, I would recommend Magnolia, without exception, and direct them to the spot on the New Releases wall where the precious double-tape VHS packs were kept. (I can still remember where that was in the store, to the left of the customers' bathroom. I checked that spot occasionally to see if someone was currently renting it.) One couple returned to me angrily a day or two after my recommendation, telling me they had started watching it with their young, impressionable child (learn to parent?), who was assaulted with a rapid-fire explicit montage of sex, violence, and profanity. I didn't have a good response. I think I just hoped that the kid would remember it.